Packet-Programmable Statelets

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the first conditional command to access the first statelet writes a data value into a field of the first statelet responsive to metadata in the first header of the first packet.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the first conditional command to access the first statelet includes incrementing a value in a field of the first statelet.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing of the first conditional command includes deleting the first statelet from the statelet storage of the network device.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the first conditional command includes a statelet key mask and the selecting of the first statelet includes selecting the M values in the first statelet key responsive to the statelet key mask.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor further executes the instructions to write a data value into a field of the first statelet responsive to metadata in a header of the first packet.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the the at least one processor further executes the instructions to execute the first conditional command including deleting the first statelet from the statelet storage of the network device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first conditional command includes a statelet key mask and the selecting the first statelet includes selecting the M values responsive to the statelet key mask.